Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial From what you're saying he thinks fast....and thats the most important thing IMO. Esepcially for that position
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial That was what caught my eye, yes. Solo dribblers beatiing overmatched opponents are a dime a dozen at this age. Fast thinkers who have the technique to execute their thoughts, those are rare birds indeed at the youth level.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial In the TDS article on the kid and his West Ham situation, they quoted his dad telling a story of them taking him back to Argentina to go to a tryout with River Plate and that of the hundreds who were there, they selected five and our boy was one of them. He was 11-12 at the time and they decided he was too young and didn't accept the offer. So, if we assume the vignet his dad told us is correct, I'd say he compares well to the Argentines his age.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial they are rare at any level. Just look at our WC squad, who thought at the speed of mollasses at times, as opposed to Germany - who barely paused before making decisiosn. Give me 10 guys who think fast over 10 guys who run fast every time.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial that's probably among the more impressive things I've ever heard about any of our youth players.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial agrees... I think the modern game relies on physical attributes more than the mental, the mental always shine, imo
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial Ok, I've skimmed this entire thread, and I haven't really seen this brought up much, if it has I appologize, but why didn't MLS/Galazy/Chivas done anything to try to get this kid? This is what bothers me, we have talent in our own back yard that's being taken right out from under our noses by European clubs while we look to Europe to send us their dinosaurs. From what I have gathered from this thread this kid sounds like the type of player that Chivas(or any MLS club really) would be foaming at the mouth for.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial West Ham has a residential youth development academy program that with a multi-million annual budget, tied into a league that makes millionaires out of 19 year olds. MLS's youth development programs cost 29 cents, and that's about what most of their 18 year old players make annually, too. Also, this kid lives 300+ miles away from LA, so it's not as if MLS clubs offer him a commuting option.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial (This is not meant to be mean or biting or attacking) You have a severe lack of understanding of US Soccer and how soccer works in this country if you think MLS/Galaxy/Chivas had any chance of "getting" this kid. I don't think Galaxy even have a youth setup. MLS is 10+ (at least) years from scouting anyone under 18 that is not playing for the US U-17 MNT. (Exceptions like Brian Levya are going to happen).
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial What makes you say that? They've already announced they're setting up youth academies and Real Salt Lake have already announced theirs which starts at 12. What makes you think they're not going to seek out the best players available to them?
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial its not that they arent going to seek them... its just that its gonna take them years to perfect the system
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial I think it will take that long to break down the current club system. FC Dallas has a youth system, but if you are a young really good soccer player, are you gonna play for FC Texas or w/e they are called now or Dallas Texans, who have produced ESP Golden ball winner Bill Dworksy, PSV Lee Nguyen, US U-20 star Jonny Villanueva? Also they are gonna have to have really good scouts to get the best players. And also HS Soccer for 15-18 year olds is going to have to end for the top players, because it is detrimental to their growth as top class players. And so many legal niggly wigglies have to be sorted out. Like can FCD recruit a player from LA? Who gets players from Georgia? What will USL clubs do in response? etc. Also all the NCAA question things are going to have to be sorted. It will jsut take alot of time.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial The MLS youth setups will break through when they become free. And that proposition will hit home with inner city kids who can't afford to expense of the top youth clubs. But that isn't going to be enough to dismantle the top clubs that send many players on to play college soccer today. All those relationships between those youth club coaches and the college coaches aren't going to be broken down easily.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial As long as we're off topic... Until MLS has a response to how to set up academies and keep kids eligible to play NCAA ball, the academies will have a hard time attracting most of our best young prospects.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial A nobody, a virtual nobody and a nobody. I don't mean to be harsh but the fact that these guys are examples of good development in this country is symptomatic of the problem. In terms of development on a global scale, there's not a youth club in this country that has anything to brag about, not a single one. When somebody pops a Rooney or Messi out, we'll talk. Hell, a Steven Gerrard would do. The best the Texans can brag about is Dempsey, and he's a travel player anyway, essentially a self-taught recruit who they use for big tournaments. And he's only Clint Dempsey. Besdies the answer is "yes" given the right conditions. Those being: a) It's free instead of prohibitively expensive. b) The instruction is of at least as high if not higher quality. There's no reason MLS couldn't swing this and it looks like Salt Lake is ensuring this. It is particularly true since MLS has a better set of incentives to develop layers than the Texans. c) A significant number of other enticements. Salt Lake, for example, has a player exchange agreement set up with Real Madrid where presumably a few American kids every year will go spend 6 months with their youth club. Or they could simply just designate the Texans as their youth club and half-ass the operations, a situation the Texans would be unlikely to object very strongly to given the right conditions. In any case, teams appear to be ready to drop some coin (the RSL figure was $25 million over 10 years) on youth development, and if they do, I sure as hell wouldn't expect the staus quo to exist for very long at all. It would be a senseless waste of money if it did. Expect some teams to half-ass it, and expect some teams to embrace it, and expect the teams that embrace it to start to reap benefits within five years, at which point the others will cease with the half-assery.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial I'm fairly sure that this isn't a problem. There's no earthly reason why it should, it isn't for kids who played for Blackburn's youth setup (Richy Dorman), and there'd be zero reason to go ahead with the plan if it was a problem. They are going ahead with the plan, so I'm guessing that indicates they don't view it as a problem. So if the kids remain eligible, it's free, they receive top quality instruction based on development instead of travel tournaments, and get side bennies like getting to hang out with pros from time to time and occasionally players from Chelsea and Real Madrid... ...how could MLS not compete with what's out there in youth soccer. I think MLS may be particularly attractive to 1st generation kids whose relatives would recognize this as the way its done from wherever they happen to be from. They won't dismantle existing youth soccer clubs, I doubt it would even be in their interests to do so. You have to play somebody in your matches after all. But what it has a chance to do is to create a situation where the financial benefits to developing real soccer stars (IE, not Lee Nguyen) create an environemnt where such things could happen in this country.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial What makes you think that hasn't been the delay in this going forward all this time in the first place? They've been talking about doing this for several years now, and very recently they've said that it's pretty much done and that the final details are being hammered out.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial I saw SL play in socal a few weeks ago. He is very good technically and has GREAT vision. IMO it is a gift, one that can and should be nurtured. However, there are other players who are 14 in cal who are close and may develop into better players as they mature (SL is very composed and mature for a 14 yeay old, and I saw him playing generally younger kids in a U14 bracket). Getting an early look by an EPL team is a great honor and may lead to something but let's not put too much pressure on him. Having said all that, it is nice to see a kid who passes well, and isn't overly flashy, get some widespread recognition.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial Some great points. One additional point - a lot of the individual coaches that people accept as the best developers of talent really aren't very good at all. In DC, United has a guy named John Ellis helping them by running their academies. Other than his English accent, this is a guy that is in coaching for the money and his success is dependent on everyone who hires him thinking that they don't know anything and that only John Ellis truly understands the game. As long as he keeps up that facade, he keeps making money. He attacks anyone and anything that he percieves to be a threat to his absolute authority (or, should I say, to his financial model). Now we have one of the top teams in MLS hiring him. I don't mind a guy making a living as long as his motives are legitimate. I don't think that Ellis's are. There are very, very few individual coaches in this country that truly understand how to develop the best players (or in Ellis's case, want to understand). We can throw money at the problem, but a lot of the individuals that helped to create the problem of ineffective player development are still going to be running the show. Hopefully increased accountability will gradually improve the situation. It really is the only solution, but it will take some time. At least we are starting to move in the right direction.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial they are getting em young these days, especially the south american kids. liverpool got a 7 year old australian kid last year but i dont know all the details, i dont know if they actually flew him over. maybe they are just helping him with development until he gets to his midteens
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial also another 8 year old aussie kid went to spain with barcelona and didnt like it there so they went to bolton and manchester city, now back in australia dominating kids up to 6 years older than him lol
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial so, any word on how he's doing? a google search showed he was at the nike friendlies.
Re: 13 Year Old Yank gets West Ham Trial He and and the other 13 year old, Charles Renken, were the class of the U15 USMNT at the friendlies. Not sure about his progress at West Ham